St Mary's College RFC Yearbook 2020-21

Metropolitan Cup
Winners, 1939-40
Back: M. Collison,
A. Norton, C. Mangan,
J. Quigley, J. Ganter,
L. Ganter.
Centre: J. Walker,
T. Bergin, T. Boyce,
D. Smyth (Capt.),
T Kelly, B. Arigho,
J. Meaney.
Front: P. Meehan,
P. Branagan.
Jimmy Canter would corral some of the
younger rnembers, hand them a few shovels
and send them off to clear the pitches of the
dung. Not always were the youngsters as
diligent as they might have been, particularly
on a wet, windy Saturday morning.
Having worked so hard, though, the
mornentum had to be maintained in those
hectic days of the late summer of 1932 and
the necessity to strengthen the ad hoc group
was obvious. The formal revival of St. Mary’s
College RFC was the first priority and it is
generally accepted that the rebirth took
place on September 8th, 1932, when Paddy
Branagan was elected as the first Captain of
the Club. For several years afterwards, Nicky
Power took on the responsibilities of
attending to the chores of managing the
grounds – marking the lines, putting in the
flags – and collecting them – and generally
ensuring that all the necessary details had
been attended to.
Many of the pre-1916 members had returned
to lend their support and they were joined
by Frank R. Doherty, Lorcan C. Gogan, Dr. J.
F. O’Grady, V. E. Becker and others, including
the Rev. ‘Doe’ O’Neill, Val Buggy and Ossie
Hennessy. But, while their application for
re-admittance to the Leinster Branch was
accepted, they were too late to enter for the
various League competitions of the 1932-33
season.
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Nonetheless, there was no shortage of
activity in that first season as a full list of
friendlies was drawn up and St. Mary’s was
included in the draw for the Metropolitan
Cup. Alas, it didn’t turn out to be a dream
return to competition when they lost their
first round tie to the then powerful Railway
Union but off-the-field activity was hugely
successful. The College, as ever, had been
superbly supportive and while the front field
in Rathmincs was again at the disposal of
the club for evening training, the College hall
was available for countless concerts, whist
drives and various fund-raising activities.
Indeed, in May 1934, the Club presented a
very ambitious concert in the College to help
to improve facilities at Kimmage Grove
probably for the boiler house extension! In
addition to a drill display by the pupils, there
were several well-known artistes of the time
involved, as well as the two Frank Purcells,
senior and junior, whose humorous sketch
was the hit of the night.
That was at the end of the first full season of
competition for the club, captained by Joe
Whelan. Whelan had just arrived in St. Mary’s
as a Prefect and be was probably the most
outstanding of the many Prefects who
subsequently played for the club while they
continued their training in the College. Joe
Whelan later became Bishop of Owerri in
Nigeria but kept in close touch with